Chelsea v Everton – 25th October, 19:45 Stamford Bridge

Chelsea may not have physically dropped any points on Saturday’s encounter against Watford – but the Blue’s put out a less-than-convincing performance, and were moments away from losing the game in its entirely…

Which has fans (and punters) begging the question of whether the team will manage to hold off Everton on Wednesday’s match, against Everton.

The first thing we’re likely to see on Wednesday’s match, is some fierce changes from Antonio Conte, and one of the biggest changes we’re likely to see, is him bringing Michy Batshuayi up front. Similarly, Willy Caballero will likely drop back, into a defensive position…

And this will be a big test of the team’s abilities, as – defensively – they’ve been relatively poor in their last few games.

This will come as a potential bonus for Everton on Wednesday’s match, and while, at the beginning of the season, they appeared to struggle to get their score-count to a respectable level, they’ve since put on a relatively impressive performance all round, with their new signing, Rooney, proving to be a huge success for the club.

One thing that may hamper Everton’s progress, however, is the fact that Everton’s manager, Ronald Koeman left the club on Monday – just two days before Wednesday’s game – and with a manager-less team currently in the sticks in regard to who’ll be managing them next, this has yet to show whether it’ll benefit, or hamper the team in any way.

Regardless, we can likely expect to see both sides opening aggressively, with a strong up-front presence likely from the beginning. Expect Everton to press forward to try and secure an early lead – although whether Chelsea’s defence can effectively hold this off remains to be seen.

In terms of betting, the value looks to be on Everton, with the bookies predicting a Chelsea win. This may come as somewhat of a surprise, given the fact that Chelsea’s performance on Saturday was – potentially – an insight into the team’s vulnerabilities – so at 2/1, we feel that a straight-up ‘to win’ bet on Everton is more than enough value to be worth looking at.

It could also be tempting to look at a draw-no-bet option, as, with both sides playing such an aggressive style of football, it’s easy to see how the match could result in a draw – although it should be pointed out that the bet-value here looks to be a little less than desirable, so play on the side of caution, here.